“Lion’s Gate most talked-about acquisition may be Dogma, a very modern take on Catholicism staring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as angels and Alanis Morissette as God. Writer/director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy) – who is himself a Catholic – originally made the movie for Miramax, the powerful former indie now owned by Disney. But when the American Catholic League whipped up a storm of protest, Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein bought the film back from his own company and began looking for a distribution partner. Disney was leery of the pressure the Catholic League had put on an earlier Mirimax film, Priest, about a gay preist. (Lions Gate’s negotiations for Dogma should be settled “any minute now,” according to spokespersons.)

The Question is this: Is Lions Gate’s agenda a genuine crusade for artistic freedom, or just a cynical marketing ploy? “We don’t intentionally ask, ‘What will be controversial’ ” said Jeff Sackman, president of Lions Gate Films. “But we don’t shy away from controversy, either. We’re big, big believers in: Let the viewer decide. People are free to protest our movies; the important thing is, others are free to go see them.”

It doesn’t hurt that the protests whip up media interest either. “Any hook that allows us to break out of the clutter is fine by me,” Sackman said. “You’ve got to get people’s attention.”

MY DAY AT WIZARD WORLD

On July 16, I went to the Rosemont Convention Center in Chicago for the third annual Wizard World Comic Convention. For those of you who don’t know what Wizard World is, it is the “ultimate multimedia entertainment event under one roof.” It is brought to you by Wizard Entertainment which publishes Wizard: The Comics Magazine, Toyfare: The Toy Magazine, and InQuest: The Gaming Magazine. This place brings together the best of sci-fi, celebrities, pro wrestlers (Like WCW star Kevin Nash), rappers like Method Man and Rza of the Wu-Tang Clan, actors like Ray Park and Anthony Daniels from Star Wars, comic book writers and artists, toys, gaming, Japanese animation, and all sorts of other stuff.

What’s cool about Wizard World is the fact that, unlike most sports athletes who are so full of themselves that they don’teven acknowledge that you’re there, the comic creators will talk with you and have fun with you. I had a chance to talk with many comic book writers such as Mark Waid, Devin Grayson, Garth Ennis, and many others. I also had the chance to goof around with Wizard senior staff writer Jim McLauchlin.

When I first got there, I went to look at the exhibitor booths, which included DC Comics, Wizard Entertainment, Todd McFarlane Productions/McFarlane Toys (Todd McFarlane is the guy who bought Mark McGwire’s 70th home run baseball), Oni Press, and View Askew Productions. At these sights, you could get all sorts of free stuff like catalogs, posters, pins, information packets. My favorite booth was the one at View Askew Productions. View Askew Productions is a company run by filmmaker Kevin Smith, whose films include Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, and the upcoming Dogma. It was my favorite because of the stuff you could buy there like DVD’s, videos, t-shirts, posters, movie scripts, comic books that Kevin Smith has written, bumper stickers, hats, pins, action figures of Jay and Silent Bob, and hockey jerseys (they have the View Askew Logo on the front which is this weird looking clown, and are all numbered 37). Also, the people working there, Walt Flanagan and Brian Johnson, were somewhat celebrities to fans of Smith’s movies, and were kind enough to take time tohave a picture taken with me.

When I was done checking out the exhibitor’s booths, I went to go get in line for Wizard World’s guest of honor, Kevin Smith. I got there early enough to get his autograph on two comic books, signed with a different message on each one. For example, on a Clerks comic that he autographed, he wrote, “Nick, Clerks is a way of life!” After the autograph session, I went to a Q&A that featured Smith. Smith came out and greeted everyone with a joke, and then let the crowd ask him questions. I was able to ask him one. He talked about how the Superman movie became all screwed up thanks to Jon Peters, the producer, when Smith wrote a draft for the movie. He said this is one reason why independent movies are better than the stuff Hollywood produces, simply because the producers don’t interfere. Smith also took questions abouthis upcoming feature film Dogma saying that it did have a distributor, and he took questions about the comics he has written for Oni Press and Marvel Comics. At about the end of the Q&A, Smith showed the crowd the rough-cut of the Dogma trailer and a scene from the movie.

When the Q&A was finished, I went to have lunch. Here is some advice for anyone who goes to a convention, DO NOT EAT THE FOOD!!! Not only does the food taste worst than Denny’s, but it also had Planet Hollywood prices, which is like four bucks for a hot dog. When I recovered from lunch, I went to something called the McLauchlin group, which featured comics writers Jeph Loeb, Mark Waid, Erik Larsen, and Brian Pulido and also was a spoof of the PBS news show with a somewhat similar name. The way this worked was Jim McLauchlin would ask a question about comics and each creator would give an answer. For example, Jim asked, “What would you rather do? Write an X-Men book, or have a nail driven into your hand?” Waid says “You can drop the space needle on my hand and slam it with a sledge hammer.” Leob responded “How big is the nail?” Pulido stuck his hand out and Larsen said that he’d write an X-Men book. What was the correct answer, you ask? It was “how big is the nail.” Mostly, this was just five guys making smart aleck remarks, but it still was one of my favoriteparts.

Also, although I didn’t do this, there were classes for writers and artists trying to break into the comic business. You can also give your work to major comic book companies like DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Image Comics, etc. If you want to do this, show up with a portfolio with copies of your work so you can give copies of your work to different companies. Also, don’t expect a call about your work right away, because there are a lot of people who do this. Lots of times, you won’t get a call, period.

Another good thing about Wizard World is the fact that you can buy almost anything. They have stuff like older comic books, movie posters, such as The Matrix, action figures, copper busts of superheroes, videos, and drawings from actual comic book artists.

Over all, let me just say this is one of the most fun places I have ever been to. The creators were great. I got to meet a filmmaker. I bought some great comics and a cool looking Mallrats poster. Just remember what I said earlier, DO NOT EAT THE FOOD!!!